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Encounters at the Well

Recently I had reason to engage a biblical text that I have
not read for a while.It is a very
familiar story to me, so I was glad to hear it again. The story comes from
John’s Gospel and it narrates an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman
at a well.Since I used to teach a
seminar on John’s Gospel, I have thought about this rather long passage and
read a fair number of commentaries to gain a deeper understanding.

The passage is far too long to give consideration to all its
aspects.So we can pick off a few
salient features that have something to do with our spiritual life today.In the first place, a little historical
background might be useful.I almost
always want to laugh when I begin to share some of the historical
background.I laugh because Jesus really
should not be at that well at that hour with that woman!

Going to the well to fetch water is a standard thing that
must have happened in those ancient times.However, because of the heat of the day, the normal time to go would be
morning or evening.And going to the
well typically would have been a woman’s role.Water clearly is a powerful spiritual symbol, as it is a necessity for
life itself.In fact, this sets up the
central teaching of this story.That
teaching comes toward the end of the story when Jesus tells the Samaritan woman
that he is a Source of life.

We also know this story is meant to stretch us (and the
people of his time) when we realize Jesus is talking to someone with whom he
should not be associated. The Jews and the Samaritans where like the Hatfields
and McCoys in their day.In fact, the
Samaritan woman probably had gone to the well at noon because she was not
supposed to be there when the regulars went in the morning or evening to fetch
water.

Even at this level, the encounter between Jesus and the
Samaritan woman was spiritually loaded.Jesus asks her for a drink.Only
a couple lines later, the revelation is happening.Jesus tells her that if she really knew what
was going on, he could give her the “living water.”As it so typically happens, the woman
misunderstands and scoffs, “you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is
deep.”I imagine her really saying,
“Yeah, sure!”

When I read this story, I have much more in common with the
woman than I do with Jesus.She is an
outsider.She has to be careful because
she could get in trouble.She is a
woman, so that means she needs to be extra cautious in a place with strange
guys.It is safe to assume that she went
to the well to get water, not to get saved!And to presume that is what Jesus was doing is to miss the point.

What Jesus wanted was to give her some sense and some
participation in the very Source of Life that Jesus intimately knew, namely,
the Divinity Itself.Jesus wanted to
share, to be sure.He would share
water.More importantly, he was willing
to share something about the Living Water.He would share his connection to the Water that would never leave her
thirsting again.

His invitation to the Samaritan woman was an invitation to
convert.As a lad growing up in Indiana,
I sometimes would hear “conversion” language and it almost always meant an
altar call and much drama.I don’t
discount this kind of experience, but it has never been my experience.Then I learned the classical languages.In Greek the word for “conversion” literally means,
“to turn around.”It also means to “get
a new mind.”I push that to mean, “start
living with a new outlook, a new commitment, a purposeful life.”

That is what I believe Jesus was offering the Samaritan
woman on the hot, dusty day at noon when she came to draw water.When you view the story in this fashion, you
can see that it was literally a transforming encounter at the well.In that sense I think it becomes instructive
of the possibility for each and every one of us.The question is what or whom will we
encounter when we go to the well?

As the story unfolds, the well represents the place and
occasion where we encounter the life transforming word and work of the
Spirit.In most instances it likely will
be in the midst of our ordinariness, rather than some special occasion.It is in this sense that I think this kind of
“well’ turns out to be our altar-in-the-moment.We will be invited to convert: to turn our lives around and live with
more purpose, depth and love.

This kind of well encounter probably will not be a one-time
deal.Instead, we will go often to the
well and repeatedly be asked to convert---again and again.As we begin to get it, we may be asked to be
part of a community of converted ones---people like us who have turned full
time to love-work and the bringing of justice to a world sorely in need of
being saved.

We will not be asked to be saviors.But we will be asked to be
servants---servants of the One who is present at every well in the world.We will be servants ready to assist that One
in whatever encounter awaits the next Samaritan coming to the well.

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